Grains of Sand

Google Images Joseph arrived in Egypt as a slave when he was seventeen. At the age of thirty he became Pharaoh’s right-hand man (Genesis 41:46). Thirteen years of slavery and imprisonment. We hear nothing about Joseph’s feelings about all that he went through—except perhaps for a brief hint when, as Pharaoh’s Prime Minister, he names his sons. The firstborn was named Manasseh, which bears a connection to the Hebrew meaning “forget.” Joseph remarked: “I t is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household ” (41:51). Was this a point of no return, the moment when Joseph put behind him any thought of returning to Canaan, or being rescued or released? With a wife and a family, his roots were now firmly planted in Egypt. The reference to “trouble” suggests that Joseph had just glided through all this with some kind of other-worldly detachment. He knew trouble. He’d lived trouble. He’d survived trouble. The birth of the second son tells us a little more. T...

stock.xchng photo Tonight my growth group begins a series of studies on the fruit of the Spirit, the God qualities that He wants to develop in believers. But if we hope to make room for the character of God in our lives, we have to clean out the closet and get rid of the old stuff. Ephesians 4:24 tells us: " You were taught with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self…and to put on the new self created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness ." As I read Numbers 33 this morning I was reminded of the Old Testament illustration of the New Testament instruction. Moses had come to the end of his journey. The children of Israel were soon to enter into the land that God had promised them. Moses reviewed the past with the people he had led for so long and gave them this instruction: " When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish...